Horn of Darkness: Rhinos on the Edge

In 1989, conservationists and local governments put in motion a desperate plan to save the African black rhinoceros. The rhinos were dehorned in the hope that, without the horns that fetch high prices in the Middle East and China, they would no longer be killed by poachers. This book chronicles the harrowing four years scientists Cunningham and Berger spent in Namibia, Africa, studying how dehorning affected the rhinos. The husband and wife take turns narrating the chapters, giving them the tone of individual journal entries. They describe the many obstacles they had to endure during their trip--from the extreme desert climate to the politics of the local government. However fascinating these details would be in a travelogue or memoir, they detract from the issue: the results of their research. It is only at the end of the book that Cunningham and Berger point out that dehorning the rhinos may lead to a loss of calves, because hornless mothers are not able to protect their young from carnivores. But in 1994 the team was denied access to finish their fieldwork, so they simply dropped the project--leaving the reader at sea. What of the fate of the black rhinos and the effects of the dehorning mission? The answer is certainly not found in the book. (Mar.)